Venice Baroque Orchestra

Venice Baroque orchestra and Andrea Marcon - Chronology

“. . . it was a revelation to hear the Venice Baroque Orchestra in an (almost) all-Vivaldi program . . . The group’s music director, Andrea Marcon, has no use for the “safe” Vivaldi, and he led the ensemble in vivid, nearly reckless performances, tearing the powdered wig off this music once and for all . . . what was revealed was breathtaking.”

Washington Post, February 2007

The Venice Baroque Orchestra’s founder and director, Andrea Marcon, was born in Treviso in 1963 and received a diploma in early music from Basle’s Schola Cantorum for his organ and harpsichord studies with Jean-Claude Zehnder. Among his other influential teachers were Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Hans van Nieuwkoop, Jesper Christensen, Harald Vogel and Ton Koopman. From 1983 to 1997, he was harpsichordist and organist of the Treviso-based early music ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca. He also founded and directed the International Organ Festival “Cittŕ di Treviso”, playing a prominent role in the restoration of the city’s historic organs. He is a professor of harpsichord, organ and interpretation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (since 1997), and has also been visiting professor at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.

1986

Andrea Marcon wins first prize in the organ competition in Innsbruck.

1991

As a harpsichordist Marcon wins first prize in the Bologna competition.

1997

Marcon founds the Venice Baroque Orchestra with some of Italy's finest instrumentalists; together they have performed throughout Europe and Japan.

1998

Marcon's dedication to the rediscovery of Baroque masterpieces leads to the first fully staged performances in modern times of Francesco Cavalli's opera L'Orione.

2000

Marcon and the VBO give the first fully staged performances in modern times of Handel's Siroe.

2001

The VBO makes its New York début at Lincoln Center in August; Marcon conducts the orchestra in the first contemporary revival of Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade at Venice's Teatro Malibran

2002

VBO/Marcon make a rapturously received debut at the BBC Proms in August at London’s Albert Hall

2002/03

The VBO under Andrea Marcon make a critically acclaimed 20-concert debut tour of the USA, followed by appearances in Vienna, Paris, London and Cologne with mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager

2003/04

The orchestra and Marcon tour Germany, appear at festivals in Lucerne, Ambronay, Passau and Eisenach, and also perform in Zurich, Geneva, Lyon, Basle, Săo Paulo and Istanbul. They present concert performances of Handel's Siroe in Paris, Hamburg and Metz, and make tours of the US that include Los Angeles's new Walt Disney Hall, semi-staged performances of Siroe in Berkeley and fully-staged performances of Handel's opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, produced by the acclaimed French-Argentine director Jorge Lavelli. Andrea Marcon also conducts Handel's Ariodante at the Frankfurt Opera (stage production by Achim Freyer) and gives organ recitals in Milan, Dresden and Seoul. In January 2004 the VBO and Andrea Marcon make their first recording for Archiv Produktion under their new exclusive contract: Andromeda liberata; the world-premiere recording of this remarkable Venetian serenata is released as a 2-CD set in autumn 2004

2004

The orchestra appears at the inaugural Venice Music Festival with a series of performances of Andromeda liberata. Further performances of Andromeda in New York (Carnegie Hall), Boston, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amsterdam and London. The VBO and Marcon also appear in concert in Europe, Brazil and on a tour of the USA. CD release this year: “Concerto veneziano" with violinist Giuliano Carmignola

2005

Katia and Marielle Labčque join Marcon and the orchestra on a North American tour featuring Bach keyboard concertos and Vivaldi sinfonias; concerts with the VBO, including Andromeda liberata on tour in Japan, as well as works by Mozart, Bach (B minor Mass and Brandenburg Concertos), Boccherini and Vivaldi in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Spain; Andrea Marcon returns to the Frankfurt Opera for further performances of Ariodante

2006

Andrea Marcon appears in recital in Switzerland and Italy. The VBO and Andrea Marcon give concerts throughout Italy and Germany and are joined by violinist Viktoria Mullova in a programme of sinfonias and concertos in Spain, Austria and Croatia in November; performances of Andromeda liberata in Italy and Germany, Vivaldi’s Atenaide in Siena and Galuppi’s L’Olimpiade in Venice; Vivaldi motets with soprano Simone Kermes in Italy and Belgium. CD releases: a collection of previously unrecorded violin concertos by Vivaldi with soloist Giuliano Carmignola and an album of miniature Vivaldi sinfonias and string concertos

2007

Andrea Marcon conducts Cavalli’s opera Giasone and Handel’s Apollo e Dafne in Germany, Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Italy, Handel’s Messiah in Spain, and Haydn’s Stabat Mater in Amsterdam. He and the VBO are joined by violinist Giuliano Carmignola on an extensive tour of the USA (including Carnegie Hall), and a tour of South America. Magdalena Kožená joins them on a European tour with a programme of Vivaldi and Handel. The ensemble and Marcon perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the Salzburg Festival, the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, and in Vienna’s Musikverein (with Anna Netrebko and Andreas Scholl). Further concerts with Baroque works (including Vivaldi motets and arias) in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. Two highly acclaimed releases this year: Amor sacro (Diapason d’or 2007), a collection of Vivaldi motets with soprano Simone Kermes (Diapason d’or 2007), and Ah! mio cor, a selection of Handel arias with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená

2008

The first half of the year sees Andrea Marcon mostly in Switzerland where he conducts the ensemble La Cetra in numerous performances of Monterverdi’s Orfeo in Basle, and performs works by Vivaldi together with the VBO and Giuliano Carmignola in Vevey, Geneva, and Zurich. Marcon also directs the Potsdam Kammerakademie in Potsdam (including performances of Handel’s Alcina), Berlin and Halle, and the Ensemble Oriol in Berlin. He and the VBO perform Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso in Amsterdam, and Vivaldi’s Andromeda liberata in Montpellier and Paris. Together with Giuliano Carmignola they appear at the Rheingau Music Festival. Amor profano, their latest recording made with Simone Kermes presents a selection of Vivaldi opera arias and will be released in the spring